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demmiblue

demmiblue's Journal
demmiblue's Journal
September 12, 2017

Why Women Journalists Are Ascendant in the Age of Trump

From television to newspapers, women are occupying more visible and powerful roles in the ranks of journalists. How has the Trump administration contributed to this changing state of affairs?

Source: Vanity Fair



The me-Tarzan heyday of political broadcast journalism’s “big swinging dicks” (to borrow Michael Lewis’s hallowed term) has entered its twilight phase, a long-overdue development obvious to everyone except those little swinging dicks who keep injuring themselves trying to perpetuate the old swagger. Lift the lid on the lusty telenovela at Fox News, if you dare, where once testosterone, cigar smoke, and rampant innuendo were the seething norm under the long reign of former chairman and C.E.O. Roger Ailes, whose emperorship ended in shabby disgrace after a cluster bomb of sexual-harassment accusations. Ailes—who did not live to enjoy the golden parachute from his former employer, dying from a subdural hematoma in May—was soon followed on the exit runway by the network’s biggest star and gnarliest samurai, Bill O’Reilly, who also allegedly let his grabby hands and mouthy comments roam where they oughtn’t. (Gangplanked by Fox, O’Reilly is trying out a subscription-based, Internet-only show, which I look forward to missing.) The Furies weren’t done flushing out reputed misbehavers at Fox News—if not firing them outright, at least sending them to the penalty box, pending investigation. Earlier this year, Fox Business Network host Charles Payne was suspended for alleged sexual harassment of a former guest, but the bigger story was the abrupt splashdown of Fox News host Eric Bolling, suspended after accusations from multiple sources in a story by Yashar Ali in HuffPost that he had sent female colleagues lewd texts with a picture of male genitalia, the irony being that this brash bucko was so righteously damning of Anthony Weiner for his penis selfies. Now Bolling too had been pulled over for possible weinering. It is a wicked world in which we live, but Karma sometimes gets the last cackle.

What is significant about the Bolling imbroglio is that he was and is one of President Donald Trump’s most manly, two-fisted, top-sirloin defenders at Fox News, bested only by cube-headed Sean Hannity, who is determined to claim dibs on the last deck chair on the Titanic. And it is to the law firm of Trump’s personal lawyer Marc E. Kasowitz that Bolling has turned to launch a defamation suit against the author of the Huffington Post article. Throughout his entire Fox News career Bolling typified the “gorilla mind-set” espoused by macho paleo blogger Mike Cernovich in his book of the same name, an ode to alpha dominance that found its golden fulfillment in the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump, the gorilla mind-set being the Wagnerian prelude to achieving what Cernovich heralds in his follow-up book as the “MAGA mind-set”—the inner power of Trumpian transformation that elevates the alphas from the also-rans. Thanks to the flubbering failure of Trump himself, the MAGA mind-set now resembles melted cheese, a glop of congealed ego and spilt religion.


Read more: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/09/women-journalists-in-the-age-of-trump


This is a great reid (yes, I totally meant that corny pun ).
September 12, 2017

Harvard psychiatrist Lance Dodes: Donald Trump is a sociopath and a very sick individual

Harvard professor and psychoanalyst on the "antiquated" Goldwater rule and our president's "serious mental illness"

Source: Salon

The president of the United States is a global celebrity whose every action is endlessly commented upon and dissected for meaning by the news media, foreign powers (both friends and foes alike) and the public.

In the age of television and now the internet, there are hundreds of thousands of hours of video and audio footage of every president widely available. There are also rumors and leaks from within the White House and other branches of government that can help paint a picture of a given president’s moods, desires, thoughts and other behavior. What is to be done if this evidence collectively suggests that the president of the United States is mentally ill?

Unfortunately, with Donald Trump this is not the stuff of a political thriller. It is painfully plausible and all too real. The evidence suggesting that Donald Trump may have serious mental health problems is overwhelming.

He is a compulsive liar who creates his own fantasy world. Trump is also extremely moody and impulsive. Trump’s advisers have to satisfy his extreme narcissism and nurture his detachment from reality by presenting him — on a twice-daily basis — with a file folder full of “good news”. Fellow Republicans have been recorded on a hot mike suggesting that Trump may be “crazy.” The American news media, as well as commentators from other countries, have voiced serious concerns about Trump’s mental health and the threat it poses to global security.


Read more: http://www.salon.com/2017/09/12/harvard-psychiatrist-lance-dodes-donald-trump-is-a-sociopath-and-a-very-sick-individual/
September 12, 2017

Hawaii Democrat latest to back Sanders's single payer bill

Source: The Hill

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) announced her support for a single payer bill Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is set to release Wednesday afternoon.

Hirono is yet another Democrat announcing they would support the legislation in recent days. The legislation has received the backing from some high profile Democrats seen as potential 2020 presidential contenders, such as Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.).

I support universal, affordable, accessible, quality health care as a right, not a privilege. #MedicareForAll pic.twitter.com/EOliwIXrxA
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) September 12, 2017

“I support universal, affordable, accessible and quality health care as a right, not a privilege,” Hirono tweeted Tuesday. “A single payer, Medicare for All system is a strong articulation of this principle, which is why I support this bill.”

Read more: http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/350244-hawaii-democrat-latest-to-back-sanders-single-payer-bill



Thank you, Senator Hirono!
September 12, 2017

Counter-protesters threaten violence at anti-Kid Rock rally tonight

Source: Motor City Muckraker



...

And now counter-protesters, including motorcyclists and militia members, are threatening violence and say they will create “a barrier wall” between demonstrators and fans of the Republican rocker. Some of the same people are accused of assaulting peaceful counter-protesters during a Donald Trump rally in Royal Oak in late July. They were part of the Michigan Militia and Bikers Against Radical Islam.

...

Nevertheless, counter-protesters threatened violence on Facebook.

“Don’t come to Detroit we will hurt you bad u n your Antifa bull shit we will kill you,” one Facebook commenter pledged.

Laura Barbour added in a separate post, “Kid Rock fans will kick the shit out of those idiots,” in response to unfounded rumors that Antifa was planning to show up.

A Facebook post by Jim Bishop declared, “A lotta head banging going to happen tonight. I don’t think they are going to understand we don’t nee their bs until a bunch are seriously injured.”

Robert Steckelberg called for “ambulances and hearses” after someone suggested “meat wagons” should be on hand for protesters.

Another Facebook user asked about civil-rights leader Al Sharpton, “Why hasn’t somebody put a bullet in that little mouthy racist race baiting negro head yet?”


Read more: http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2017/09/12/counter-protesters-threaten-violence-anti-kid-rock-rally-tonight/
September 8, 2017

Sign petitions to end gerrymandering at these locations over the next week

Source: Metro Times



Voters Not Politicians is working to gather 316,000 signatures needed to put a proposal on the November 2018 ballot that the group says will end gerrymandering of electoral districts, if it's approved.

The non-partisan, non-profit group is proposing amending Michigan's state constitution to establish a 13-member citizens' commission made up of five independent voters and four each from the two major parties.

It has 180 days from Aug. 17 to collect the signatures, and well-attended festival and weekend events are excellent places to gather large numbers of them in a short time.

Below is the list of locations where you can find Voters Not Politicians volunteers collecting signatures. Exact locations and times where/when volunteers will be at events are not always available, so keep your eyes peeled for them. In some cases, volunteers will be outside or the near the entrance of the event instead of inside it. For example, volunteers will be near the entrance of the University of Michigan football game, but not in the stadium.


https://www.metrotimes.com/table-and-bar/archives/2017/09/08/sign-petitions-to-end-gerrymandering-at-these-locations-over-the-next-week
September 7, 2017

Whole Woman's Health Is Offering Free Abortions to Women Affected By Hurricane Harvey

Source: Jezebel

Whole Woman’s Health, the clinic that won the landmark Supreme Court case against restrictive abortion regulations in Texas, Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt, is offering free abortion services to survivors of Hurricane Harvey whose plans were disrupted by the storm.

In a blog post on their website, Whole Woman’s Health writes that the offer extends through September, and will include any traveling or lodging costs to get to one of their clinic locations in Austin, San Antonio, McAllen, or Fort Worth:

There are already so many barriers to access this necessary procedure, and natural disasters stand in the way of women getting to their appointment and/or being able to afford care.

During Hurricane Harvey, many of the clinics in Houston had to close temporarily, leaving women with very few options. Continued political attacks on abortion access make an unwanted pregnancy particularly stressful in Texas – add that to the stress of dealing with hurricane aftermath.


Read more: http://jezebel.com/whole-womans-health-is-offering-free-abortions-to-women-1801959195?utm_campaign=socialfow_jezebel_twitter&utm_source=jezebel_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
September 6, 2017

Hurricane Irma: This Delta flight flew right into the stormthen had minutes to escape

Source: SacBee

Hurricane Irma was spinning toward Puerto Rico today, but that didn’t stop one Delta flight from making a daring landing on the island mid-afternoon—and then trying to get out before the storm made landfall.

Riveted Twitter users followed along in real time by looking at radar depictions of the plane’s flight bath, as Delta Flight 431 left New York City and headed south toward San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“DL431 is going for it,” wrote Jason Rabinowitz, a Twitter user and self-described aviation geek who spotted the plane headed straight toward the menacing storm.

Meanwhile, the island braced itself for landfall of the Category 5 storm, whose 180 mile per hour winds, torrential rains and punishing storm surge prompted Puerto Rico’s governor to declare a preemptive state of emergency earlier this week. Irma has already set records, too, becoming the strongest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, according to the National Hurricane Center.










More: http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/world/article171577632.html


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